So, this was a bit on the strange side. Vandemere (Vandy) is a horse rider/trainer in a traveling circus. He is from a long line of circus workers, and his Mom is still very involved, reading tarot cards, etc. She is very well known, and usually has a line of people waiting for her… She’s very talented, but it seems like her son may have a bit of this in his blood too! Lots of drama. Lots of lust for a girl on the team who has absolutely NO interest in him. Then there’s a whole other side to this book…one that deals with the paranormal, or maybe mind-reading? And then there are the demons and a possible family relationship with a rival adult. Very interesting. Very different. And, somewhat addictive. I am still not totally sure how I feel about this book, but I am looking forward to book #2 and hope more will be revealed. It took me a while to get invested but I finally did and now want to see where it goes.

Thanks to NetGalley for an ARC of the audiobook.

As a reader, I was captivated by “Vandemere” from the very first page. Set in the 1930s American Southwest, this historical fantasy follows 17-year-old Vandemere Petruska, a trick rider in a traveling circus with a complicated magical inheritance.

The book’s most compelling aspect is Vandemere’s internal struggle with his supernatural abilities. Every time he uses his inherited tarot magic, he blacks out, which lands him in the middle of a mysterious missing child case. His journey of self-discovery is raw and intense, exploring themes of family legacy and personal identity.

The atmospheric world-building is extraordinary. Tait’s writing transports you to a gritty, dust-choked landscape where the line between reality and supernatural is razor-thin. The circus setting feels incredibly authentic, populated by vivid, memorable characters.

Thank you to Netgalley and the author for an audio arc of this book.
Vandemere is a wonderful historical fantasy set against the backdrop of 1930s American Southwest. The attitudes and language of that time really come through and the narrator truly took me back in time whilst listening. The wide array of accents to convey different characters and emotions was truly artful. It really felt as though this audiobook had a full cast thanks to the wide range of the narrator, Kyle Shive.
Unfortunately for me, historical settings are a bit hit or miss and personal this story really didn't vibe well with me. The characters were multi-faceted thanks to the amazing narration but I really didn't empathise or care for any of them. The main character Vandemere seem really juvenile and naïve even though he was supposed to be in his late teens.
The connection to the police officer that tried to arrest Vandemere at the beginning of the book felt like it came out of left field as well. It wasn't cohesive to the story at all!
Another gripe I had with this book is that Vandemere is listed as part of the Circ de Tarot duology but the author explicitly states that each book can be read as a standalone. However, knowing the direction and conclusion of book 1 that seems really unlikely. I feel that if you pick up book 2 without the context of book 1, you will be really lost.

Vandemere by Kimberly D. Tait had a lot of potential but just didn't work for me. The book has a beautiful cover. It has a really interesting premise. I struggled to really feel the setting. I couldn't picture where the characters were and what their surroundings looked like. The characters were pretty bland. And all of the house details really made things feel slow. The audiobook was really good though. The narration fit the story perfectly.

Thank you to the publishers and netgalley for this arc in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to this audiobook.
This book was a bit of a challenging read for me.
I liked how it started off in some action and I felt like the setting was well done. I definitelygot the 1930s feel from the outset.
I didn't love the pacing though. It slowed down a lot after the open and was pretty info dumpy in internal monolog after that.
I liked the backstories and some of the storylines had a nice emotional impact, but the character archetypes did feel pretty cookie cutter generic in the early stages. Pretty girl who's mean, buff bully, mom with the angry boyfriend and gangly arrogant kid protagonist.
I will say that the magic intrigued me and kept me going for most of the book, even amongst all the horse and animal talk that went on for a bit too long. The magic seemed to elude me just right at the beginning for me to question "wait, where is this going, I need to know" and was very interesting throughout. I think the narration switch in those times was very good as well, gave it a sense of foreboding that I could viscerally feel. I liked the narrator personally.
Overall I think it was good enough but a few things reworked could have made it much better.

I enjoyed this audiobook and I'm glad I got to listen to it! Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley.

Things I loved:
-The narrator, Kyle Shive, from AudioBee Productions, was probably the best narrator I've yet to encounter. All characters sounded different, tones and accents were perfectly on point. A pleasure to listen to.
-The book was set in 1930's American southwest, and the author executed this very well.
-The magic! or magie, I guess. Just everything supernatural. It was very cool and eerie at times.
-Vandy (main character)'s backstory and how it was gradually revealed, and his relationships to other characters.
-The cover! Couldn't find out who did it, but come on, it's ridiculously gorgeous! How could I not want to listen to a book with that cover?

Things I didn't care for:
-At times I couldn't locate the plot. The book was never boring, interesting stuff was happening all the time, but eventually the story didn't come off as very cohesive.
-Vandy as a character. He definitely grew up a lot during the book, but at times his inner monologue was just annoying.
-The fact that the book ended so soon! There were a ton of intriguing mysteries left unsolved that I need the answers to. Luckily, book 2, Fire Horse, is already out!

Read if you like coming-of-age-stories, historical fiction and dark magic.

Thank You for Netgalley for the Audio ARC. I enjoyed this story quite a bit and will definitely continue the series. The narrator was Kyle Shive who did a great job. This is more of a Lit Fic and the story is told by Vandy perspective. He is a bit a young trickster who finds himself in some weird situations. The book ends with you wanting more.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Interesting mixture of circus, tarot and magic from a male POV.

I listened to this book on audiobook and want to first start by saying how great the narrator was. Really easy to distinguish between the characters and a great range of voices and accents.

Vandy is a teenage trick rider who has grown up in the circus. His mother is from a line of Romanian gypsies and his absent father has left abandonment scars in his son. Vandy has an excellent bond with horses and has inherited his mother’s gifts. A young girl goes missing and that’s just the start of the evil lurking in the magic system which is making Vandys life difficult.

The plot was good, well thought through and from about 30% I was pretty enthralled. I still have lots of questions, there’s a couple of plot twists thrown in that I didn’t see coming and the cliff hanger ending has me wishing for book 2.

The setting for me is partly why a star has dropped. It’s supposed to be the early 1900s but the descriptions didn’t quite match this and nor did the behaviours or language. I would have liked this to have been truer to the era and had a bit more world building.

The characters were strong albeit I found the first part of the book hearing from a 17 year old boys point of view as how his brain worked gave me the ick in some areas but I do encourage you to persevere as the story is good.

Trick rider in a traveling circus , seventeen-year-old Vandemere (Vandy) Petruska is caught between two worlds. To be an ordinary young boy live his life and his age and between being vandemere the fre horse who supposed to search for his legacy and who really he is to face what happening to him and the evil which is watching him.
In this book you will find how romanian people struggle according to their immigration to america and how the americans in the past did not respect theit art of circus.
I wait for the second book.
The narrator :
Kyle Shive thank you sir you are a game changer
You make this wxpeeience much more fun .
I can't wait to listen to more books by you.

I unfortunately didn’t finish this audiobook. I was really struggling to get into it😅. I think I might’ve enjoyed this more as a physical book rather than an audiobook.

This story had a lot more promise than it gave, honestly. The concept was really fun, a circus in the 1930s, Romanian trick horse riders, a dark curse that may or may not be sentient darkness. Unfortunately it just wasn't written very well. There was a lot of weird dialogue and at least half the story was in flashbacks, but not in any specific order or reason. Flashbacks just came and went, seemed like an afterthought to explain whatever was currently going on plot-wise. I didn't care for the narrator, either. His voice was fine in normal narration but any time a character started talking, the voices were LOUD and screechy. It felt out of place and not how I'd imagined the characters to emphasize any particular word/phrase. Also, it's a little startling when the narrator just starts screeching out of nowhere. This is probably better as a normal read vs listen. There could have been a lot more polishing in this and it would have been a lot better. The circus felt more like a setting/afterthought than having any real influence on the story, which is what I was hoping for. It could have taken place in any time or setting and wouldn't have changed the story much. Side characters were flat, but I liked the male main character overall.

This was a fun, whimsy book filled with intrigue, magic and mystery. The story was interesting and kept me engaged throughout the book. I lived the setting of the circus and the imagery was fantastic. The history of Vandemere and his family was intriguing, and I enjoyed Vandy’s character development. I also appreciated that every character ended up playing an important role in the plot. I listened to the audiobook version of this and thought the narrator did a great job. I look forward to the second book.

Vandermere is a book that gives you a very intriguing glimpse behind the scenes of the circus life for a "villager" like me.
Vandy is a typical teenager whose life is led by not so typical problems.
He is a descendant of a long line of a magically gifted, Romanian family . None have lived to ever grow old. Is the inherited magic a gift or a dangerous curse? So far it seems like a curse. I'll have to listen /read the second book "Firehorse" to find out what's going on.
Well narrated with much enthusiasm.

We follow our teenage MC as he tries to figure out his place in the world. He has a special power passed down through his family line they call the Magie. Something is coming for him and people are dead.
.
My only real criticism is that I feel like this book could have been a novella or the duology could have been one book.
But now for the good stuff, I really liked the magic system it’s not super detailed but it doesn’t need to be simplicity is perfect for this story. The characters we follow are likeable but morally grey enough to keep you interested and the plot has hooked me, I’m sure these books are on KU so I’ll definitely be picking up book two.
If you’re a fan of historical fiction sprinkle in a similar vide as one dark window and you have this but much better 😍
Please check trigger warnings as there is some content readers might wish to avoid.
Thank you to the author and publisher for providing me with a copy for review through NetGalley

Vandy Petruska inherited Magie’s power from his mother but he experiences too much bad luck. His father taught him to ride and at 17 he is a trick rider in a traveling circus. Set in the 1930s American Southwest we follow Vandy’s life.

Well written and well narrated novel (I listened to the audiobook). Good characters in this well paced novel. His father abandoned him but why? What entity has marked him for death?

Narrated by Kyle Shive

Sorry to say this one was not for me. It follows circus brat Vandy, who does tricks on horses and also has magic of some form thanks to his gypsy blood?

It's set in 1930s Southwest USA, but aside from a few references to the heat I never really felt it. The language - particularly as it was first person narration - didn't seem to suit the setting at all and there wasn't enough description of the environment for me to fall into the location.

Aside from that, the characters weren't great. Vandy is an arrogant kid determined to hate everyone and everything, and he actually kinda cries a lot for someone constantly being told 'you don't have to be tough all the time!' I guess those more familiar with teenage boys might be kinder to him, but to me he was an unlikable protagonist. The rest all seem pretty stereotypical, with the bully, the mean girl, and the mum's awful boyfriend all here, along with more. I didn't warm to any of them at all.

Horse lovers will enjoy the amount of detail in this story, but it was too much for me. It detracted a bit from the story, I felt, because there were so many descriptions I almost had to google horses to work out what was what. It slowed down a story that already felt rather dragging.

The narration I had to bump up to double speed, and the accents were AWFUL. Vandy's mother's accent seem to fluctuate between Spanish, Russian, German, and who knows what else. Some of the other voices put on were terrible, and I hated the tonal change for Vandy's visions. It just rubbed me the wrong way. Would not listen to this narrator again. But I can see from other reviews that I'm in the minority for that, so listen to a sample yourself before taking my word for it.

The pace was too slow for me, and I think the setting never changing added to the dull feel of the story. I just didn't really care about anything being related. It felt more like it wanted to be historical fiction, and the 'magie' element was more of a gimmick that seemed out of place.

Perhaps horse fans will get more out of this, and those who prefer slower fantasy and who have more time for angsty teenage boys. It really wasn't for me at all.

With thanks to NetGalley for an audio ARC

A trick rider in a traveling circus, Vandemere Petruska’s life is far from perfect. HIs mother is a drunk, his father left, and he inherited his mother’s tarot magic. Stuck between two worlds, Vandemere struggles to reconcile the two. Every time he uses his magic, he blacks out and doesn’t remember what happened. As a result, at 17, he finds himself in the middle of a missing child case. Will he learn to embrace his magic or will it destroy him?

Narrator, Kyle Shive’s intonations and narrative style are well done and work well with the author’s writing style. He does a great job of bringing the characters to life. The characters are authentic, enjoyable, and well drawn. The plot is unique and engaging. The world building is well done and works well with the ongoing plot. Readers who like historical fiction, magical realism, carnival fiction, and mysteries will want to pick this one up. Recommended for library collections where such audiobooks are popular.

Okay, I had complicated thought with this one but it’s still fun and quick yet haunting in some ways

Kimberley D. Tait’s Vandemere offers an intriguing premise and a glimpse into the complex world of the circus life and gypsies. While the storyline holds promise, it doesn’t entirely deliver the gripping narrative one might hope for. The pacing of the plot wavers, with moments of intrigue occasionally overshadowed by slower or overly detailed sections.

That said, Tait’s insight into the circus life adds authenticity to the story. Overall, Vandemere is a passable read, but it may not leave a lasting impression on those looking for a truly compelling storyline.

Sadly DNF'd this one.. I didn't like the narrator and that just heightened my dislike of the main character. I wasn't engaged and didn't want to keep going just to end up rating it lower